In this paper we analyze some of the ways in which the new historical novel relates to the conqueror's chronicles and historical documents. We take as a point of reference one of the central themes of this literary phenomenon, the discovery and conquest of America, and focus on how the figure of Christopher Columbus is approached by three contemporary novelists in their productions: Alejo Carpentier's El arpa y la sombra, Abel Posse's Los perros del Paraiso and El conquistador by Federico Andahazi. Respecting a chronological order, we propose to reflect on the different modulations that the origianl materials have been treated by selected fiction writers, to better understand what are the ways in which 'history' and 'literature' are mixed and crosslinked.